Starting from Scratch
New vacuumer in the house! {
12:33
,
Monday, June 18, 2007
} {
1
comments } { Link
}
On Saturday Ryan taught Little Ryan(4) how to vacuum. Today, he has vacuumed the whole house, and he is still smiling. He told me after he was done with the upstairs that he wants to clean the whole house so that I can take a nap. Then he led me over to the couch and asked me to lie down, and then proceeded to vacuum the downstairs. He has done a great job! I am thinking that the vacuuming will probably be done more than twice weekly like I have been doing. Four or five times a week sounds great to me.This week I am working on completing my MOTH schedule (www.titus2.com). I have had this MOTH book for about a year and a half, and it is only halfway completed. It is no good to me this way. If I get nothing else done this week (except having my floors vacuumed by my four year old) I WILL FINISH THE MOTH SCHEDULE!!! I will post it when finished. We are down to two milking does and two doelings now. At the end of the week we will wean the doelings. They are giving us about 1 1/2 gallons of milk per day. I've started making yogurt with the excess flavored with maple syrup, yummy! I am going to make some chevre soon (but not before the MOTH schedule is done). To do list... {
10:55
,
Monday, June 4, 2007
} {
0
comments } { Link
}
4 loads of laundry, washed and put awayvacuum whole house mop re-organize downstairs bookshelf clean upstairs bathroom weed flower beds clean laundry room clean out refrigerator Big update. {
10:03
,
Thursday, May 31, 2007
} {
0
comments } { Link
}
This is just for you Katie.....All of our baby chicks have survived, except for one which I may or may not have scared to death on the riding lawnmower. They should begin laying in July. We will be selling half of them. All of the goats did a lovely job kidding, and did not allow me to view one single birth, the stinkers. Out of five kids born, four were doelings. In the goatworld, this is considered to be the jackpot. I've heard that mostly bucklings is the norm. Our first freshner was the first to kid and she has turned into an amazing little milker. She hasn't given me an ounce of trouble and has the most beautiful teats. After her mother Rose kidded I sold her. She became an enormous pain. She was always finding ways to stomp on my toes and her teats were tiny which made my hands cramp up when milking her. I sold her doeling kid too. I sold Daisy, the first goat that I purchased (read the first several entries for a huge belly laugh about Daisy). Although she was milking out an incredible amount of milk each day (1.25 gallons) she was still being snooty. I determined that if I was going to be spending so much time every day with the goats, they all need to be goats I like. Daisy didn't make the cut. She did however give me a gorgeous doeling that we named Chamomile. I have very high hopes for Chamomile. Puff is a full blooded Lamancha that we bought a few weeks before she kidded. She gave us twins. Little Ryan wanted to name the girl Hebrew. I have no idea why other than we have been studying the Old Testament together. We named the buckling Chevy (goat meat is called Chevon, and this is his ultimate fate). Puff is miking out about 3/4 gallon a day, somedays more. The boys are growing so fast. Ryan loves helping with the animal chores. I am hoping to teach him to milk next year. His hands aren't quite big enough yet. Robert loves feeding and petting the goats. Both boys give the baby goats their bottles. Ted is now 9 months old. He likes to sit in his stroller and watch the chickens. More baby chicks! {
10:22
,
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
} {
1
comments } { Link
}
We had our second shipment of chicks (40) come in this morning. All survived the trip and are very chipper and excited. They are all running around and look very busy. They are eating and drinking a lot too. I'm cautiously optimistic that none will die, hoorah! I'm going to try to post some pictures of them later, they are so cute! I'm thinking chickens are one of my favorite animals.We got electric poultry netting up over the weekend. The chickens are still free range, but we can keep them more contained now. Which means, we find all of the eggs they lay. We even got a tiny egg from our bantam hen. She used to never lay in the nesting boxes, and I never was able to find her stash. More later... Baby Chicks {
03:29
,
Friday, February 23, 2007
} {
1
comments } { Link
}
We got our first order of baby chicks on Wednesday. We ordered 26 Jersey Black Giants, and 25 Buff Orpingtons. They were supposed to be delivered Tuesday morning, but didn't show up at the post office until Wednesday. When we opened the box, we saw that more than half were dead. We lost a bunch more shortly thereafter. The count right now is nine. We had what I believe to be our last casualty this morning. Of the nine left, only one is a black giant, the rest orpingtons. We ordered from Murray McMurray hatchery. I called yesterday, and they are replacing everything that died. Our new order should be arriving Monday morning. I ordered 20 Black Australorps, and 20 White Rocks. I ordered two males of each breed, hopefully one of each will make it.We are planning to order another batch of fifty chicks to raise to 17 weeks, and then sell them as layers. It will be a few weeks after that when they will start laying. I am having trouble deciding whether to order Red stars or another more interesting breed. I don't particularly care for the red stars that we have. They aren't nearly as pretty as other breeds. But, they allegedly (mine never have) lay better than most breeds. If it were me buying them, I would want a choice between a few different breeds, but I think I get too hung up on appearance. My father was here for a short visit. We had so much fun, but the visit wasn't long enough. The boys really enjoyed the time. He flew back home this morning. We'll be seeing my parents again the first week of May, they'll be coming out to the east coast for a long weekend at the beach. Can't wait! WOW! Two posts in one day!!! {
02:47
,
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
} {
0
comments } { Link
}
ABC's Of HomemakingI have seen this going around the Blogger so I thought I would join in
*********************************************** Aprons – Y/N? If Y, what does your favorite look like? Baking – Favorite thing to bake
Clothesline – Y/N? Donuts – Have you ever made them? Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze? Garbage Disposal – Y/N? Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource? Internet. Ironing – Love it or hate it? Or hate it but love the results? Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it? Yes, by the kitchen door. Kitchen – Color and decorating scheme Right now the walls are done in a really bad faux finish from when we moved in. I plan on painting it an ochre yellow, and the theme is primitive country kitchen, but there are a lot of chickens in there! Love – What is your favorite part of homemaking? Mop – Y/N? Nylons – Wash by hand or in the washing machine? Oven – Do you use the window or open the oven to check? Pizza – What do you put on yours? Quiet – What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment? Recipe card box – Y/N? What does it look like?
Style of house – What style is your house? Tablecloths and napkins – Y/N? Under the kitchen sink – Organized or toxic wasteland? Vacuum – How many times per week?
X’s – Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off? Yard – Y/N? Who does what? I try to have all homemaking wrapped up by 7:00. Usually the last thing is getting the kitchen tidy and the sink shiny. Ice, Ice everywhere! {
02:10
,
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
} {
1
comments } { Link
}
We had an ice storm last night. It knocked the power out. Ryan went out this morning to get a generator. We had planned on buying a used one, but the NEED to stay warm outweighed the NEED to be frugal. We are so blessed to have a neighbor who is an electrician. He came over and helped Ryan get the generator hooked up in such a way that it powered the whole house. We can't have everything running at the same time, but it's a whole lot better than having extension cords all over the place. One of our other neighbors is a paramedic. I was so happy to learn this. My labors generally last thirty minutes, but our midwife lives forty-five minutes away. It was reassuring to know that if I was here by myself I could call for my neighbor and he'd be up in less than two minutes. Thankfully, I didn't need him this time around. Everyone was here when I went into labor, but I know one of these days I will probably end up birthing alone. All of that to say, we are so blessed in the neighbors God chose for us.Ryan mentioned at lunch that he would like for us to be energy independent one day. This has been a dream of mine for years. Our first step, obviously, would be getting a woodstove to heat the home. We are not really sure how long we will be in this home, we would really like more land. But, when we get in a house where we know we will be for more than seven years, we would like to put in an outdoor furnace. We know several people who have these, and they have nothing but good things to say about them. I'd also really love to have a wood burning cookstove one day. I don't know if that dream will ever come to fruition, but there's no harm in wishing. I'd also like to get a manual hand pump installed in the well so that when power goes out we can still get water. That's about as far as our energy indepence dreams have gone so far, but who knows, maybe someday we'll be totally off grid. Happy Valentine's Day! I will be grilling some ribeyes that I got from my meat man for the occasion. My Valentine brought me five roses with some white german statice (my favorite filler). One rose for each year we've been married. I asked him what he was going to do when we've been married 50 years. He answered without skipping a beat,"50 roses." I asked what he was going to do when we were married 75 years, again he answered confidently,"75 roses." I'll report in on that we the time comes :) Woodstove life lesson {
08:28
,
Sunday, February 11, 2007
} {
1
comments } { Link
}
Ryan packed the two older boys into the van Saturday to go pick up the woodstove. The man we were buying from had told Ryan to call before coming. He didn't answer so Ryan went ahead and left and kept trying to call. He finally got through 55 minutes later. The man informed Ryan that he sold it earlier that morning to someone who was willing to pay more. Ryan was five minutes away from his house at the time. Instead of getting angry and driving to the man's house and conking him on the head with a cast iron skillet (like I would have done) Ryan used the experience as a life lesson for the boys. He explained during the drive home how it is very important to keep your word. When you promise someone that you will sell them something, or help them with something, even if a better offer comes along it is important to keep your word. He told the boys that the man was dishonest and that we would pray that he would be convicted of his sin and repent. Didn't I tell you I have a great husband? He's a great father too, he is raising up strong men of integrity. The world could use a few more husbands and fathers like Ryan. It is my prayer that our sons follow in their Daddy's footsteps.
Woodstove Jackpot! {
11:04
,
Friday, February 9, 2007
} {
2
comments } { Link
}
Ryan and I have been looking for a woodstove to hookup to take over heating our home. We currently have a terribly inefficient heatpump that is just not cutting it. When we bought the house, there was already the chimney to install a woodstove, so we are set in that department. We also have plenty of free wood at our disposal. One of our neighbors just had loggers come in and clear out a homesite for them and our neighbor told us to take the leftovers. There are also several ads in the paper for people giving away free wood. Ryan is not sure whether we will be able to go ahead and get the wood stove hooked up this year. We still have to have the chimney cleaned and buy heat panels for the walls and floor, but it will be nice for next year. The man advertising it originally asked for $100, but he said he would give it to us for $50 if we could pick it up soon. Great deal! This will also give me a way to cook when we lose power!
The bad thing about babies..... {
05:06
,
Saturday, February 3, 2007
} {
0
comments } { Link
}
The bad thing about babies is that they just don't stay that way for very long. Ted is 5.5 months old now. He's doing so many new things now, before I know it, he'll be walking. I relish the baby stage, and I mourn when it's over. It's just about over for number three. I'm not quite sure what I will do when I am too old to have anymore babies. Hopefully grandbabies will fill the void.I'm sick, sick, sick. It started yesterday, and I think it may be full blown flu. I've been in bed all day today with a fever and the works. The fever has only been up to 101. I don't stifle fevers unless they get to 104 for me, or 103 for the kiddos. I think it's best to let the fever work it's magic. Hopefully when it finally breaks I will be on the mend. Praise the Lord that it is Saturday and Ryan has been able to take care of the kids. I would have just had to curl up and die otherwise. Ryan took the older two boys to pick up chicken feed and to pick up a 20 foot antenna from someone he found on Craigs list. Ryan loves the Colts, and wouldn't ya know they made it to the Super Bowl. The only problem is that we don't have cable and we can't pick up CBS with our dinky little antenna. So Ryan wrote in a plea to Craigs List for a long range antenna and sure enough, there was a nice man who wanted to get rid of his. It all worked out nicely. Greenhouse {
02:59
,
Friday, February 2, 2007
} {
1
comments } { Link
}
I have recently gotten about 5 or 6 different seed catalogs in the mail. I'm going to start all of our seeds for the garden this year. Ryan is going to start working on a greenhouse for me, possibly this weekend, but if not then, next weekend. We are also going to start our chicks in the greenhouse. The idea of having them in the house for a few weeks is not one I relish. I'm so thankful to be married to a man that not only is able to look at something and put it together for me, but he actually enjoys doing projects like this. Since we have moved out here, he has built my chicken tractor, put up a sturdy fence for the goats, and built a goat shed. He didn't know how do construct any of these things before we moved, but he learned, and has done a great job too! I'm married to an amazing man.
On the way to winter {
12:08
,
Thursday, January 18, 2007
} {
0
comments } { Link
}
We are finally getting seasonal weather here in central VA! It might even snow a little. My oldest son has been praying for snow. It's hard to believe it was 70 degrees last week.On the to do list for today! 1. Figure out what's wrong with the dryer. (I had to tape it shut yesterday with my hot pink duct tape) 2. Work on some thank you notes. (I'm way behind on these, but now have Hershey Kisses stamps, so I don't have any reasons not to get these done now!) 3. Mop my kitchen floor 4. Finish up the laundry and get it put away. 5. Reading lesson for Ryan 6. Call my midwife (Nope, not pregnant, yet. I'm looking into becoming a doula and want her opinion on a few things.) 7. Dusting 8. Re-organize downstairs bookshelf. Updates! {
09:52
,
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
} {
0
comments } { Link
}
It's been awhile, so I suppose updates are in order.On the farm front: All three does are bred. We "rented a buck" for two months, and he did his job well. He stunk to high heavens, but the girls loved him dearly. They are still waiting by the gate, hoping Prince Charming will return. They should be kidding starting in late April through mid May by my calculations. I always wanted to be a midwife, I'll settle for a goat midwife, if I have to, I guess (for all you Red Green fans). More than half of my chickens are in molt right now, at least they better be. If I find out they are just holding the eggs in to spite me, there will be chicken and dumplings for everyone. We are planning our spring and summer garden. I'm using the chickens to scratch up the ground and fertilize, then covering the ground with recycled goat hay. We will be going with heirloom veggies this year, and saving seed for next year. I am hoping to can and freeze enough veggies to get us through next fall and winter. We are looking into digging a root cellar for onions, taters, and carrots, but that may be another year out. We are hoping our crops do well enough that we can take the extras to the farmer's markets in the area, along with extra eggs. We will be ordering 100 chicks from the hatchery within the next few months to increase our laying flock. I'll also be running a batch of 25 broilers for our freezer, and depending on how well that goes, I would like to run another batch or two. I was thinking it would be a good idea to try and can 15-20 quarts of chicken for quick meals, we'll see. Poor Robert (middle son, 2 years old) had a run in with the neighbor's rooster. Robert got scratched and bruised, but he won the fight. The neighbors killed him and made chicken and dumplings. Robert is now a bit skittish around our chickens, hopefully it won't take too long for him to get past that. I'm hoping to update more frequently! Back to blogging with a new baby! {
11:32
,
Thursday, September 7, 2006
} {
1
comments } { Link
}
I haven't blogged in a while because not much has changed lately on the homestead scene. I had my third child, another boy, on August 17, two days early! With my other two pregnancies I went about two weeks late, so this was a nice change. His name is Ted and he was eight pounds and 21 inches long. He was born at home, a waterbirth, and I was only in labor for about thirty minutes. Ted is a very sweet baby. He is mild mannered and is already sleeping well, only waking once in the night around 3:30 to nurse. He is three weeks old today, time flys.We've had a rough few weeks with house affairs. Two days after Ted was born we had a pipe break and our finished basement was flooded. Thankfully our homeowners insurance covered the repairs. The drywall man just finished up this morning, so it is completely fixed now. Tropical storm Ernesto blew through last week. We lost power for the day. We also lost a chicken. She was my best layer. She layed an egg almost every day and they were quite large. We had to take my oldest son Ryan to the emergency room last Tuesday. He woke up in at 11pm coughing very hard and wheezing. He was having trouble catching his breath. We called our neighbor who happens to be a paramedic. He came down and took a listen to his lungs and recommended we go to the emergency room for a breathing treatment. All checked out okay in the ER, and he is fine now. We all came down with seasonal allergies last week. It's difficult to take care of sick kiddos with a new baby in the house, especially when I wasn't feeling well either. We are still dealing with the allergies, hopefully in another few days they will be better. Yesterday, son Ryan flushed a small three inch vase down the toilet. We have to call the plumber, again! This will be the fourth time in two months we have had to call our plumber. I expect to get a fruit basket for Christmas! I resumed the farm chores for the first time yesterday since before the baby was born. Ryan was such a dear and took over all of the chores for me about two or three weeks before the baby was born. I was getting antsy to start back up again though. I milked Daisy, who by the way has turned out to be a calm milker after all. I also fed, watered the chickens, and moved the pen. Then, I decided to hop on the lawn mower and mow a third of the lawn. The entire lawn takes about three hours to do, and I didn't have time to do all of it, so I just did the back. I love mowing, it's very therapeutic, and I have missed it. It feels really good to be back in the swing of things around here. Slowly, little by little I am adding back all of my responsibilities. Hopefully in another week I will be entirely up to speed. Things are finally settling down. {
04:23
,
Monday, July 10, 2006
} {
2
comments } { Link
}
We haven't had any more catastrophes so to speak. The only upsetting occurences being the occasional pail of spilt milk. Daisy is still giving me a run for my money during milking though. She gives me about 7 minutes of standing still and acting like a lady, but after those seven minutes, all bets are off. She kicks, tries to lay down, edges her way to the other side of the stanchion, etc. My hands are getting stronger, and I am getting faster, but her teats are so small that I'm just not fast enough to get her milked out in 7 minutes yet. I am ashamed to admit that I have resorted to threatening her with the auction yard as well as goat burger. I do this with the chickens too when they only give me four eggs (there are 10 of them).For those of you who have read my entire saga, you will be pleased to read that the insanity will in fact continue. We will be getting a yearling doe and her kid as soon as the fence is finished. Daisy needs company. The kid is still nursing so I have the alternative of not milking the new goat unless I want extra milk. She is a La Mancha/Kinder cross, and her milk should be delicious. Next year her production should go up, right now the current owner is getting a quart a day from her, while the kid stays with her during the day. We haven't decided yet if we will butcher the kid in the fall, or keep him to clear out our wooded area a bit. Either way I will be wethering him. We have decided to name our goat herd after the characters of Keeping up Appearances, a British comedy on PBS. If you have seen the show, you will appreciate the humor in our naming our herd after the characters. If you have not seen the show, please watch it so that you will understand the humor. So far, Ryan and I are the only ones laughing. We will be naming the new goat Rose, and the kid Anslo. A day without goat drama, please! {
11:15
,
Sunday, June 25, 2006
} {
1
comments } { Link
}
The last two days have been packed with goat drama. On Friday, we
were unable to catch Daisy for her morning milking, and then by
afternoon, she had gotten out of her fence. She is staying at our
neighbor's house, temporarily, while we finish our fence. She has
been getting bullied a bit by the neighbor's goats. I went down
to the neighbor's to try and catch her, but couldn't stay too long
because my youngest son was throwing up. I couldn't get her, so
came back to the house and called Ryan. We decided it would be
best to get her away from the two neighbor goats and set something up
here that she could stay in while we finish the fence. We found a
large dog run in the Trading post, so Ryan went to buy that on his way
home from work. He was able to catch Daisy in less than five
minutes, she is in love with him. He spent the rest of the
evening constructing the dog run, and the last hour was full of rain
and thunder. We got Daisy into her new home just as the lightning
started to flash.Yesterday, we thought we were having a terrific goat day. We milked her without much trouble, she is still kicking, but Ryan just held her legs while I milked. Her milk is delicious by the way. She seemed very happy in her new little home. Then, in the evening we had more gullywashers along with thunder and lightning. The tarp that we hung over part of the pen filled with water and caved in the pen. Ryan went out around 10:45 to walk the dog before bed and saw that the pen was coming down. He went and rescued Daisy and came back under the patio roof and called for me. I was shocked to see him holding onto the goat. We decided it would be best to take her back down to the neighbor's because it would take too long to get the pen fixed, it was lightning, and 11pm. Ryan is out there now fixing the pen, in the rain. Hopefully, Monday will bring a drama free day. We could really use one! Why wouldn't it be a good idea to buy a Toggenburg when you are 7.5 months pregnant? {
08:38
,
Thursday, June 22, 2006
} {
2
comments } { Link
}
So, we got this goat yesterday. When her previous owner was here, she was nervous about being in a new place, but all in all, she was fairly well behaved. Last night dh, the kids and I went down to the neighbor's house to milk her. She did fine while her grain bucket was full, but after it was empty, she started kicking and stepping in her milk. I was not even halfway done at that point. She got her udder soaked from splashing around in the milk, and I couldn't get a good grip on her teat, not that she would let me. Her previous owner told me that if she started giving me a really hard time to go ahead and stop milking her and by the morning she would be uncomfortable enough to behave like a proper lady. So, after trying for ten or so minutes to get her calmed down we decided to come back in the morning. This morning we arrive at 6:00am and she comes running to the gate. I think to myself, "Great! She is ready to behave!" Ha Ha Ha! We couldn't catch the beast! We tried for 45 minutes to catch her. We were shaking the grain bucket, talking to her sweetly, trying to herd her with long sticks, nothing worked! Now remember, I am 7.5 months pregnant, so I am not all that quick, but dh was helping me, he is quick, and handsome and charming. If he were talking to me like that and shaking a bucket with one of my favorite treats in it, I sure would have come running. But we never did get within grabbing distance. I honestly don't know how she was running so fast, her udder was quite full. But run she did. It got to the point where we had to leave because dh had to get to work. We never did catch the beast. I will be calling the previous owner to discuss ways of catching her, this can't keep up like this. Dh is also going to be buying a hobble to eliminate the kicking problem if we ever do catch the beast. Toggenburg 2 People 0 We'll see what the score is this evening! I'd say we're really a homestead now! {
03:02
,
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
} {
8
comments } { Link
}
I am Ashley, I am 24 years old and have been married to Ryan for five years. We have two kids, with a third due to arrive in August. My sons are Ryan 3.5 and Robert 1.5. We moved out to our little 2.5 acres the day after Thanksgiving. We are hoping to lease some acreage from one of our neighbors, between 5-10 acres more. I'd say it's offical now, finally, we're a homestead! We got our first goat today. She is 3/4 Toggenburg 1/4 Alpine. We are keeping her down at our neighbor's house until we get our fence finished up, but hopefully she will be up with us in the next 2-3 weeks. We have had chickens (10 and 1 bantam rooster) for probably about four months now. I am trying to locate 10 more laying hens, because the 10 we have aren't laying enough to fully give us all the eggs we need. We are also getting a Jersey cow at the end of September. The current owner is holding her for me until a month after delivery. At that time, we will start a small cowshare program. Raw milk is very much in demand in my area. I also hope to sell eggs. My son Ryan was so excited about getting the goat, while I was getting my milking lesson he kept asking if he could try. This is really great for him because about six months ago he was afraid of goats, and most larger animals. But today, he was petting her and talking to her and telling her what a beautiful goat she is. I will be milking her myself this evening, I hope it goes well, I'm sure it will. I need to locate a companion for her before we bring her home. There are two cashmere goats down at the neighbors, so she has companionship there. I'm really excited to have this blog, I've wanted to start one for some time, but decided to wait for the goat. Ashley |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
